Furnace



3 sheets -sheet 1.

J. H. IRWIN.

Furnace. I

No. 227,535. Patented May 11, I880.

W t '& nesses:

N-PEIERS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WfiSHING ON, D. C,

3 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. H. IRWIN.

- Furnace. No. 227,535. Patented May 11, I880.

Witnesses:

FETERS, PNDTO LITNOGRAPNEE WASHINGTON. D c.

J-. H. IRWIN. Furnace.

No. 221,535; Patented May 11, I880.

1 Iu 01mm v $060 -3 Sheets-Sheet, 3

UNITE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. IRWIN, OF MORTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

. FURNACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 227,535, dated May 11, 1880.

Application filed February 25,1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN H. IRWIN, of Morton, in the county of Delaware, in the State of Pennsylvania, hai e invented new and useful Improvements in Furnaces; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 represents, in vertical transverse section, a marineboiler in position, with my invention attached and in operative position. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the vessel, showing the furnaces on one side and the stack in elevation. Figs. 3 and 4 represent, in horizontal and vertical section, a typical form of my invention for the purpose of illustrating its mode of operation and its applicability to all required purposes of a furnace.

This invention relates to a method of utilizing the movements of locomotive-engines,

whether land or marine, to regulate the furnace-draft.

The causes of disturbance which I desire to overcome are present in respect to marine engines and to land locomotives in a less degree,

and their treatment is so similar that it is im-.

practicable to disassociate them.

ship rolls and by the alternate acceleration and retardation of the moving atmospheric column in the stack when the ship rises and The movement of air.

falls with the waves. over the stack in a direction perpendicular to its axis, consequent upon the flow of the wind or of motion of the stack through a still atmosphere, is also a disturbing cause exceedingly irregular in its action.

. A marine-engine furnace-draft is ordinarily affected by the complication of these, and the disturbance is all the greater because at one moment these causes may be more or less in conflict and at the next moment in harmony.

To neutralize these disturbances and place the draft partially under control, it has been customary to employ fan-blowers with marine engines, and with land locomotives it has been customary to exhaust into the stack. Both of control to impel the draft, so far will power be economized, while the extra loss will be obviated entirely.

The draft of a furnace is, in fact, an ascending column of hot air carrying with it the products of combustion, and uniform steaming requires a uniform flow of air through the fire. This column of hot air, ascending and escaping at the top of the stack, is accelerated or retarded inits rate of flow by the causes named, and consequently the flow through the fire is correspondingly irregular. Wind blowing across the top of the stack accelerates it.

Wind blowing into the top of the stack retards it. The oscillation or roll of the ship by centrifugal action accelerates it. The rising and falling of the ship alternately retards and-accelerates it. The causes of disturbance can be neutralized by producing simultaneously equal dis-- turbances in an opposite direction-that is to say, if, when the ship rises, the outflow from the stack is. retarded, that retardation must be neutralized by an increased inflow and aug- Inented pressure at the bottom. When the ship sinks into the trough of the seathe consequent acceleration of the column in the stack will be neutralized by a corresponding retardation or diminution of pressure at the bottom, 860. These effects may be produced by counterbalancing columns of air connected with the column in the stack at the fire-chamber and normally movingin an opposite direction, so that any effect of acceleration or retardation of the column moving upward in the stack will be simultaneously counterbalanced by an equal efl'ect of retardation or acceleration of the feeding column moving downward to the fire-chamber. This counterbalancing column of air supports combustion in the fire-chamber which receives substantially support from no other source.

That others may fully understand my invention, I will more particularly describe it.

A is the fire-box of a steam-boiler, and a is the grate. B is the ordinary stack, provided at its top with a cap composed of the annular inclined plates (1 d, which cause all currents of air striking the top of said stack to produce more or less exhaust in the interior space of said stack. For this reason I call plates cl d ejector-plates.

The column of hot air and products of combustion heretofore referred to rise in the stack B and escape at the top of the same.

The counterbalancing columns are in the feeding-tubes or annular chamber E E, the vertical length whereof is about equal to the vertical length of the stack B, and their capacity to carry cold air is as nearly as possible equal to the capacity of the stack B to carry hot air.

I do not think it essential here to enter into any specification of these capacities, as they will depend upon relative temperatures and velocities, and will not be constant.

The counterbalancingeffect of these columns of air will be evident in view of the foregoing statements.

To equalize and insure the feedingflow through the tubes E-that is, to prevent any exhaust from the inlets of said tubes by reason of adjacent atmospheric currentsI provide said inlets with annular inclined plates 6 0, s0 adjusted that, from whatever direction said atmospheric current may encounter said plates, it will be diverted and driven into said tubes, for which reason I call plates 6 e injectorplates.

If the furnace were at rest, or if it were subjected to disturbances from a known direction only, then a single counterbalancing column might be adjusted so as to be entirely efficient; but such conditions are impossible. A marine-engine furnace is subjected to disturbing motions of every possible complication of lateral and vertical movements, and, in common with the land locomotive, it is subjected to atmospheric currents from every direction between horizontal and vertical, and having movements with every complication as to direction. Under these circumstances it is practically impossible to arrange a single feedingcolumn to meet all possible conditions of disturbance unless it be made annular as to the stack B, as shown in Fig. 1, so that it is equally exposed from all directions.

It will appear evident that the essential condition of this invention is the substantially equal length vertically of the feeding and discharging column, and that the feeding-passages may be arranged in a great variety of ways other than those shown, to suit the convenience of surrounding circumstances, and that therefore I do not propose to limit myself in the following claims to tubes, nor, when tubes are employed, to the Specific arrangements shown, but only to the adjustment of columns of feed-air to counterbalance, as described, the column of air escaping from the furnace to accomplish the objects set forth.

Neither do I propose to limit myself to the particular structure of the ejector-caps and injector-caps shown. Those forms I regard as best, but still other forms may be substituted.

It is manifest that, so far as atmospheric disturbances due to wind are concerned, this invention is equally applicable to all stationary furnaces.

Recurring again to the drawings, F represents the water and steam spaces of a boiler or steam-generator, and steam may be taken therefrom by suitable pipes in the usual way.

In Figs. 1 and 2 my invention is shown as applied to a marine furnace, the feeding tube or passages E being annular as to the stack. The feed-air conducted through the passages E is distributed to the furnaces by means of wind-trunks G, and the inflow into said trunks may be controlled and limited by the gates H.

It is well known that a large percentage of the heat generated in the furnace is discharged through the stack to the upper air. A considerable portion of this waste heat will be radiated laterally from the pipe B. To obviate the disturbing effect of this radiation upon the air in the feeding-passages E, an air-space jacket, 1, is interposed between the stack B and the feeding tube or passages E.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A furnace-chamber, and the pipe or stack for the escape of the products of combustion therefrom, combined with feeding tubes or passages arranged to supply all the air required to support combustion in the form of a column or columns moving downward and counterbalancing the column of air moving upward in the stack, substantially as set forth.

2. A furnace-chamber, A, combined with feeding-tubes E, arranged to receive air near the level of the top of the stack, all the air required to support combustion, and discharge it into the fire-box, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. A furnace-chamber, A, stack B, provided with ejector-plates d d at the top, and feeding-tubes E, substantially as set forth.

4. A furnace-chamber, A, stack, B, and feedlug-tubes E, through which all the air to support combustion is drawn, combined with ejector-plates a, substantially as set forth.

5. A furnace-chamber, A, and stack B, provided with ejector-plates 61, combined with feeding-tubes E, provided with injector-plates, and wind-trunks G, substantially as set forth.

6. A furnace-chamber, A, and stack B, provided with ejector-plates, and feeding tubes or passages E, provided with injector-plates,

combined with an intermediate neutral chamber, I, substantially as set forth.

7. A furnace-chamber and stack B, provided with ejector-plates, combined with feeding- 5 tubes E, provided with injector-plates, substantially as set forth.

8. The hereinbefore-desoribed mode of governing and regulating the draft of moving furnacesviz., by locating said furnace sub- 10 stantially midway in an air-duct which is substantially closed except at its ends, and said ends at or near the same level, whereby one part of said duct will convey air to the furnace to support combustion, and the other part will conduct away the products of com- 15 bustion, the air-colun1ns moving toward and away from the fire being counterbalanced by each other, substantially as set forth.

I JOHN H. IRWIN.

'Witnesses:

' R. D. 0. SMITH,

OHAs. F. R. HENoKERoTH. 

